Does anyone steam their own wood?

Brian Altop

Member
Messages
274
Location
Tacoma, WA
Does anyone steam their own wood? I would like to build my own steamer, the local spa is really starting to get annoying with their wining every time I bring my wood and forms down to their steam room!:D
I was thinking of using a pvc pipe with a drain in the bottom on a slight downhill slant and a small vent on the up hill side and use an old clothes steamer for the source. Does anyone have a better idea or tips?

Thanks!
 
I bend a lot of thin strips and I just use a heat gun on it. No water. It's the heat not the moisture that allows it to bend. But if you doing thicker pieces that need to steam for a long time then the heat gun probably wouldn't be suitable.
 
I've done a moderate amount of steam bending, but rather than try to explain it, I'll point you to a booklet that you can download from Lee Valley. It is great, like most everything they do.
 
I did the PVC pipe and it worked OK, but if I were doing it regular like, I'd build a proper plywood steam box, the PVC is not fun to handle and it actually sagged on me a bit in the middle. :doh:
 
Thanks for the info!

Thank you much! I will start a steam box here next week and give it a try! (maybe I can steam my lunch while I wait and have it keep my coffee warm too! Well, maybe not. How does cedar flavored coffee sound?):D

Brian
 
I have a 6" dia chunk of schedule 80 pvc, which is a lot more robust than the regular stuff. Regular pvc will sag, and I stopped using it because of that. Be careful of making the box too big because it can be difficult to get the whole works hot and keep it that way.

I made a wooden trough out of some plywood to keep the pipe from sagging before I got the thicker stuff.
 
I have a 6" dia chunk of schedule 80 pvc, which is a lot more robust than the regular stuff. Regular pvc will sag, and I stopped using it because of that. Be careful of making the box too big because it can be difficult to get the whole works hot and keep it that way.

I made a wooden trough out of some plywood to keep the pipe from sagging before I got the thicker stuff.

Great idea! thanks. I hadn't thought about the steam needed vs the size of the box/tube. I'll put that into the equation.:thumb:
 
Top